by Mia James
‘Your interest in English and History,’ he ticked the points off on his fingers, ‘and on poking your nose into other people’s business. Breaking into the headmaster’s office, searching private houses. Even the odd bit of amateur chemistry.’
She gaped at him. How did he know all that?
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Oh you know exactly what I’m talking about, April Dunne,’ he said, his eyes flashing. He reached out and grabbed her arm again.
‘Leave me alone,’ she gasped, but he pressed his fingers into her flesh, probing for nerves.
‘No, April. I will not leave you alone, no matter how much you squeal, no matter how hard your mother and grandfather try to make me back off. You are the key to this case and I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have a reputation for getting results. I will keep pushing until I get what I want. And I always get what I want.’
She looked around for Caro, Gabriel, anyone. Where was he?
Suddenly Tame released her, a cruel smile on his face.
‘Looking for your boyfriend? I think you’ll find him down by the lake.’
April stood there, stunned, rubbing her arm. He was a madman. Someone must have seen them? She looked around, but everyone was engrossed in their own conversations, oblivious. And anyway, it was a school event – anyone seeing that scene would assume Tame was a teacher telling her off. She watched Tame go over to a group of besuited men including Nicholas Osbourne, shaking hands, laughing with them as if nothing had happened. And who would believe her, anyway? She thought about what she’d said about her mother only minutes ago and felt ashamed. Silvia wouldn’t stand for this sort of thing. She would have protected her. Talking of which, wasn’t she supposed to have an escort to look after her? Where was Gabriel?
She walked out onto the wooden terrace. There were chairs and tables with candles in the middle, but not many people out here despite the patio heaters. The decking went up to the edge of the lake which twinkled with the reflected party lights. It would be a romantic spot to be with your boyfriend – if only she could find him. April wrapped her arms around herself. God, it was cold. She was feeling it more since her injuries. They had healed well, but she still didn’t feel completely whole, completely solid. She wondered if she ever would again.
Where is he? she thought with irritation. She stepped down off the decking and walked a little way along the path. She needed some air after her encounter with Tame, anyway. She wished her dad was here. She remembered her mother toasting him at the start of the Osbournes’ Winter Ball. He’d loved a good party. Where are you, Daddy? Are you watching over us? I hope so, because I could certainly do with some looking after at the moment. Just then she stopped. She heard a scuffed foot on the path and hushed voices. Ahead, she could just make out a couple standing together. April stopped. She didn’t want to disturb their intimacy, but something made her linger for a moment. The boy put his hand up to the girl’s face, gently pushing a strand of hair from her eyes, then bent down to kiss her on the cheek. It was a tender moment and she felt as if she was intruding. Embarrassed, April stepped back quickly, her shoe scraping the path. In that moment, the boy looked up and April could see his face in the moonlight. It was Gabriel. With Jessica. Cool, pretty Jessica from the bookshop, the same Jessica Gabriel had said was just someone he ‘used to know’, someone whose relationship with him was ‘complicated’.
Of course it was, she thought. Of course it was.
‘April,’ said Gabriel, but April was already running. She ran past the marquee, back along the path following the lake. She had to get away from him. From them – was there a ‘them’? Of course there was, she’d been completely taken in. The way Gabriel had looked at her … she could feel her heart shattering inside.
‘April!’
Gabriel had caught up with her. He grabbed her arm but she pulled it away.
‘Ouch!’ she shouted. ‘That hurts. Some bloody vampire tore it open, remember?’
Gabriel stopped and held his hands up in front of him.
‘Sorry, sorry. I forgot, but …’
‘It’s pretty obvious you forgot, isn’t it? It obvious that a few things have slipped your mind, too, little things like the fact that you have a girlfriend.’ She shouted the last word in Jessica’s direction, but the woman had gone.
‘Come on, April, this isn’t what it looks like. Jessica is a friend.’
‘A friend?’ she shouted, incredulous. ‘Is that what you call her? I saw you, Gabriel.’
‘April, it’s not what you think …’
‘Isn’t it?’ she shouted. ‘It never is. So why don’t you tell me? No, on second thoughts, don’t. I’ve had enough of your explanations: “it’s complicated” or “you won’t understand”. I don’t want to hear your lies any more, Gabriel. In fact, I don’t even want to see you again.’
She turned and began to stride away up the path, but Gabriel jumped in front of her. Without thinking, April balled up her first and punched him as hard as she could.
‘Bloody hell, April,’ said Gabriel, staggering backwards in surprise. ‘Just give me one minute to explain.’
‘And what are you going to say, exactly? “It’s not you, it’s me”? That you need space? You’re not ready for a relationship right now? Spare me. You’ve always got an excuse and I’m sick of it.’
She tried to push past him, but he stood his ground, anger on his face.
‘Get out of my way,’ said April.
‘No, not until you’ve heard what I’ve got to say.’
April gaped at him. ‘How dare you!’ she shouted. ‘How dare you stand there and make demands of me. I’ve lied for you, covered up for you, I’ve listened to your ridiculous stories. I’ve given you everything.’ April realised she was crying and angrily swiped away the tears. ‘I risked everything – I risked my life – to save you. And what do I get in return? “It’s not what it seems”, when I catch you kissing another girl. Well I think it is, Gabriel. I think it’s exactly what it seems. You’ve got your old life back and now you don’t need me any more.’
Gabriel stepped forward, trying to put his arms around her, but she stepped backwards, turning her ankle over in her heels.
‘Damn!’ she shouted in frustration, bending over and angrily pulling the shoe off. She flung it at him. ‘Here, a present for you. I won’t be needing to look beautiful any more, will I?’
‘April, you’ve got this completely wrong.’
‘No, Gabriel. I haven’t,’ she said. ‘All I wanted was for you to love me as much as I loved you, but no. That was too much for you, wasn’t it? Your stupid destiny and your stupid’ – she flapped her hands in frustration – ‘your stupid war have to come first, don’t they? It’s never me, Gabriel,’ she whispered. ‘It’s never me.’
‘It is, April. You’re everything to me.’
His face softened and he put his hand to her face, in exactly the same gesture she had seen him making towards Jessica only minutes ago.
‘NO!’ she shouted, slapping his hand away. ‘Don’t you dare!’
She bent down, pulled her other shoe off and, clutching it hard in her fist, ran up the path, away from the party, and away from him.
‘April!’ he shouted after her. ‘April!’
‘Leave me alone!’ she shouted. She could feel the cold stinging her feet as she ran, mud splattering her legs and soaking the hem of her lovely dress. She pulled it up and increased her pace around the lake and up the hill towards the top of the park. All she wanted was to get home, to get away from him, away from this whole mess. How had she got herself into this? Why had she fallen for his lies?
Finally her protesting lungs gave out and she stopped, looking back anxiously to make sure he wasn’t following her. There was nothing there, nothing except the dark lawns and the trees bending down towards the path. Panting, feeling the frost in her scraped toes now, she pushed on up the hill, not sure where the path was leading exactly, but knowing that home –
and with luck, her mother – were in that direction. She put her hand over her mouth to stifle a sob. Why? she thought angrily, looking up towards the starry sky. Why me? Why do you keep heaping all this on me? All I try to do is be a good person, help people out. And then they turn around and unload on me from a great height. She wiped her nose and shook her head. Maybe everything Gabriel had ever told her was a complete load of rubbish. The vampire recruiters, the birthmark, the destiny, maybe it was all part of his elaborate lies. Maybe the incident with the knife on the Embankment had been a conjuring trick or hypnosis or something. She had no one else’s word for it. Well, Miss Holden’s, but maybe she was another one of Gabriel’s conquests, maybe they were in on it with him, leading her on a wild goose chase. She was walking through a wooded area now, bushes and flower beds on either side, the thick trunks of the trees bending in towards her, their arching fingers blocking out the moonlight. April suddenly shivered and wished she hadn’t flung her shoe at Gabriel.
It had been funny though, she thought, remembering the look of surprise on his face. She let out a chuckle. Half detached amusement, half hysterical sob.
‘Something funny?’
April’s heart gave a bump and she whirled around, but she was too slow. She felt a stinging blow to her ear and she flew sideways, landing painfully on one knee. Who? What? she thought, turning her head to see. ‘Gabriel …?’
Thud. Another thump to her back and she pitched forward face down onto the path, a crushing weight – a knee? – pressing her down into the cold tarmac, her palms scraping the gravel. She tried to raise herself, tried to fight it, but the weight bore down harder.
‘Not Gabriel,’ hissed a voice close to her ear. April’s blood ran cold. She would know that voice anywhere.
‘Marcus?’ she whispered in disbelief, her mind scrabbling to cope. How can he be here? How?
A high-pitched giggle rang out. ‘And here I was thinking you’d forgotten me.’
Marcus gripped her hair and yanked her head back painfully. ‘Did you miss me, little rabbit?’
‘Go to hell, Marcus,’ she spat and instantly regretted it as Marcus slammed her head back down onto the path. She tried to roll over, but Marcus grabbed her wrist and dragged her backwards, pulling her across the path, grazing her arm and leg. A rage rose up in her. She’d had just about enough of people pushing – and pulling – her around for one night. She twisted her body around so that she was on her knees and, with all her strength, yanked herself backwards. To her surprise, she broke free and fell back onto her bum. April knew she had only seconds to act before he came flying at her again. There was no time to think, no time to run. He was a vampire; she was a mouse trying to escape a tiger. She sprang to her feet just as he loomed up at her.
‘You want to kill me?’ she yelled. ‘You want revenge? Well come on, then! You’ll be doing me a favour.’
She heard a bubbling chuckle from the dark and saw him step towards her.
‘Oh, I want to kill you, little rabbit,’ he said. ‘But not for revenge, oh no.’
As he walked towards her a beam of moonlight lit his face and she saw him for the first time – and she understood immediately. His skin was grey, mottled, his eyes sunken, his cheeks hollow. Marcus Brent was dying.
‘You see it, don’t you?’ he whispered, spite dripping from his lips. ‘You see what you’ve done to me, don’t you – Fury?’
Her heart lurched. He knew, he knew. Her worst fears had come to pass. They all knew she was a Fury and they would tear her apart. And once April was gone, the vampires would continue their plans unhindered, turning the world into a living hell. Gabriel would stay a vampire for ever, Caro and Fi would be turned into Suckers, her mother married to Sheldon … and her father’s death was all for nothing. Pointless. Futile. Marcus must have sensed her despair, because he laughed.
He took a step forward and April stumbled backwards, not wanting him to get any closer, but knowing she had no chance of escape if she ran.
‘You know why we call you Furies, rabbit?’ he hissed, his voice fully of quivering menace. ‘I bet you think it’s from Greek mythology, don’t you? The three Furies,’ he said sarcastically, ‘the daughters of the night. I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you? All very superhero.’
April didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything.
‘No, we call you Furies because of the Romans. It’s from fures – the Latin for “thief”. That’s all you are, Fury. A dirty little thief, sneaking in and stealing our glorious light.’
She could tell Marcus was enjoying this, gleefully drawing the moment out. Why? Why not just get on with it? And then she realised. Because this was his last act. There was no Dragon’s Breath for Marcus and if the vampires found him, they’d probably kill him. And it was then April decided she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure.
‘Didn’t like it, then?’ she whispered, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
Marcus frowned.
‘Didn’t like what?
‘The taste of my blood.’
With a roar he leapt forward, grabbing April by the throat. His fingers squeezed viciously into her flesh and she flinched at the foul breath on her face.
‘No, I did not,’ he snarled. ‘But that doesn’t matter, does it? You’ve already infected me with your disgusting little disease. I can’t catch it twice, can I? So now …’
He ran a finger down her cheek until it was touching her neck. ‘… now when I drink you dry, we’ll go to Hell together.’
He opened his mouth, pulling his cracked lips back to reveal bleeding gums and broken teeth. Horrified as she was, April felt some satisfaction at that: they were teeth she had knocked out during their battle in the snow last Christmas. All of her fear and pain and loss rose up inside her and she let out a scream. Marcus flinched in surprise and April used that moment to bring down the heel of her shoe like a hammer, hitting him square on the temple. He cried out in pain and fury, but April didn’t wait to see if she’d done any real damage. She turned and ran.
Stay down, stay down, she repeated over and over in her head, hoping she’d hurt him enough to at least slow him a little, but knowing he was a vampire and that a little tap like that would barely register. With every step, every heartbeat, she knew he would reach out for her and pull her down like a tiger falling on a fleeing deer. She could almost feel his fingernails digging into her skin. Yet still she ran, faster than she had ever run, tearing along the path past the tennis courts and out through the gate onto Swain’s Lane.
‘Hey!’ shouted a security guard, but she didn’t even pause, her feet pounding, her only focus getting home to safety. Safe? she mocked herself, Safe at home? The place your father was murdered? You call that safe? But there it was, looming in front of her, the tall windows, the friendly yellow door. She tore across the road, crashing through the gate which clanged back and forth behind her. And there was the door. Closed. Locked. Ohmygodohmygod, she thought, hammering on the wood. I left my key in my coat. I left the key in my coat!
‘Mum!’ she shouted, knowing full well that she was out. ‘Mum! Please!’ she shouted, the flat of her hand stinging as she banged it on the door. ‘Help me! Please!’
But who would help her? She was cornered like … like a rabbit. Then she heard him coming for her, the footsteps running across the square straight for her.
‘No!’ she shouted, crying. ‘No!’ She turned to face him. But it wasn’t Marcus. It was a man in a black coat. A uniform.
‘It’s okay, love,’ said the man, holding up his hands. ‘You’re all right now. You’re okay.’
Then there was another man and a woman, also in uniform. Uniform? For a moment, her brain didn’t register, then she was flooded with relief. The police! The police were here!
‘April!’ shouted DI Reece as he ran up the path. ‘It’s okay, love, it’s okay,’ and she fell into his arms.
‘Marcus!’ she sobbed, ‘Marcus is back.’
‘I know, April. It’s oka
y, we’ve got him. We’ve got both of them.’
She looked up at him. ‘Both? Who else have you got?’
He looked grim.
‘Gabriel, April. We’ve arrested Gabriel. I know he was only trying to help, but …’
‘What? Why have you arrested Gabriel? Why haven’t you arrested Marcus?’
Reece looked across at the female officer who shook her head.
‘We can’t arrest Marcus, April. Marcus is dead.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
April walked through the open gates and up towards the house. She gently pulled her scarf higher up her bruised throat. It seemed colder today – perhaps it was, it was coming up to midwinter – or perhaps it was just how she was feeling. The gravel crunched under her shoes and she came down through a line of trees. There it was: Kenwood House. She had been meaning to come here for ages – after all, the Georgian mansion was all of ten minutes’ walk from the square – but she had never managed somehow. It was the pull of the cemetery, the pull of the past.
It had been three days since the police had charged Gabriel with Marcus’s murder. With unintentional dark irony, they were calling it manslaughter. April still had little idea of what had happened, but she guessed that Gabriel had followed her after their argument and caught Marcus just as she was running away. That was evidently the police’s theory too – they had made her go over and over the events in detail, until she had felt she was going mad, but at least they hadn’t made her speak to Dr Tame again. Her mother had, of course, gone completely ballistic that the police had allowed a crazed killer to attack her daughter for a second time. She said she would have their jobs, and from the look on DI Reece’s face, April guessed he agreed with her. Of course, the story had made the papers, the tabloids lapping up this juicy new twist to the story of murder in Highgate: ‘Daughter of slain journalist is attacked for second time in weeks, police are powerless’. Poor DI Reece. It wasn’t as if his panda cars and house-to-house inquiries ever had much chance against a nest of vampires, was it?